Game of Thrones Season 5 Premieres in London

'Game of Thrones' Season 5 Premiere: 'There's Some Really Dark Stuff Coming'

Kit Harington joked from the London red carpet that Jon Snow "turns into a really happy guy – no of course he doesn't!"

Published on March 19, 2015 07:20AM EDT

Send a raven. Game of Thrones is back.

And there couldn’t possibly have been a more fitting location for Wednesday night’s season 5 world premiere than the Tower of London.

Kit Harington, Natalie Dormer and Charles Dance were among the stars from the acclaimed HBO fantasy drama who brought Westeros to London, where the walls of the “Bloody Tower” were emblazoned with illuminated projections of dragons and flames that flickered along the red carpet.

Even the much-coveted Iron Throne found its way to to the historic fortress, which just happens to be circled by ravens – though not the three-eyed kind.

Spoilers for those who aren’t caught up: Tywin (Dance) is dead, the dragons are getting stronger, Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) is on the run and Arya (Maisie Williams) is finally free. That’s just a small portion of the drama that was unveiled at the end of season 4.

So what does season 5 have in store?

“This season is quite dark,” Liam Cunningham (aka Davos Seaworth) told PEOPLE. “There are a lot of characters on journeys in the show, they were going in one direction and now suddenly they are going somewhere completely different, but things come to a head, and there’s some really dark stuff coming.”

While the cast members remained tight-lipped on what exactly will unfold in season 5, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau said of his character Jaime Lannister: “He is in mourning of his father, but he is also aware of the immense danger now that the Lannisters have lost their powerful leader.”

The Tower of London is no stranger to a powerful leader: England’s King Henry VIII had two of his wives beheaded at the prison. Not long before Henry’s reign, the foreboding landmark was pivotal in the civil upheaval of the Wars of the Roses, which divided England from 1455 87 and from which GoT author George R.R. Martin has said he drew inspiration.

In contrast to this dark and sinister mood, Harington joked that his character “Jon [Snow] is inexplicably over-the-moon this season. He’s happy, there’s a dance number, he turns into a really happy guy – no of course he doesn’t!”

Game of Thrones‘ fifth season will premiere April 12 on HBO.